It has been a while since I posted The Pit and things have been pretty slow recently (with the TV season ending and are any films even shooting?). Here is a new and slightly beefy-er edition of The Pit. Enjoy!

It is official! Mariska Hargitay and Chris Meloni will both be returning for the 11th season of Law & Order: SVU. Unlike the other Law & Orders, I can’t imagine SVU without Hargitay and Meloni. Their characters and chemistry separate SVU from the Criminal Intent and the original L&O.

Awesome awesome awesome Lost news! We’ll be getting a full extra hour in the sixth (and final) season! The producers felt that they needed a little extra time to tell the whole story. I’m game for how ever much time they need.

The hip hop magazine Vibe will be closing its doors, according to the New York Times, and the recession is to blame. Or is it another sign of the print medium dying?

Will Dimension Films be remaking or franchising An American Werewolf in London? While I wouldn’t mind seeing another semi sequel like An American Werewold in Paris, I’d hate it if they just tried to remake the original. Not only does it hold up well with time, but it’d be impossible to improve it, so what would be the point?

It has been a while since I’ve reported any 90210 news (and sadly it looks like neither Dylan nor Brandon will be coming back next season), Abercrombie and Fitch model Trevor Donovan has been cast as Teddy, a pretty boy tennis player and son of a movie star. Could he be the guy driving the car that witnessed Annie run over something in the season finale? We’ll find out on September 8th, when the second season of 90210 begins.

Speaking about casting, I really like the idea of Noah Wyle leading a group of soldiers and survivors against an unknown alien force in Steven Spielberg and TNT’s upcoming sci-fi series. Between this and V, it looks like aliens are battling vampires for the entertainment monster spotlight.

Leopold Keber from LOOM sent me this trailer for their independent film, Tartarus, and it blew me away. The teaser is visually interesting and completely engaging. I can’t wait to see more. The film itself is an alien invasion mystery/thriller that is based in 18th century Imperial Austria.

To check out a second trailer to the film and watch a few production diaries, head over to the group’s YouTube page (note: the videos are in German).

Not once, but twice this week I’ve been pissed off so much that I haven’t felt like writing about movies or the movie business. Earlier this week came a report that Roy Lee and Doug Davison of Vertigo Entertainment are working with Fran and Kaz Rubel on a remake/relaunch of Buffy the Vampire Slayer without the input of creator Joss Whedon. Now there is a report that Fox is going forward with a remake of Alien. Seriously, why?

I enjoyed the original Buffy movie, but was completely blown away by the television show. Like many fans, I’ve followed the characters I love into the comics and will continue to follow them into the future. A future we all hoped might include a feature film. Now we get word that a feature is in the works. A feature without Joss Whedon? Without Sarah Michelle Gellar? Without David Boreanaz? No James Marsters? Alyson Hannigan? Anthony Head? Buffy is nothing without the world Joss created. If they want to go ahead and make a movie about a vampire slayer, than go ahead, why in the world would they want to piss off a fan base and call it Buffy the Vampire Slayer when it isn’t. Worse yet, when that movie tanks, it will hurt… or kill… our chances of ever seeing a REAL Buffy movie.

20th Century Fox, the franchise killer, is going to remake Alien. Ridley Scott’s original sci-fi horror film is near perfect and was followed by one of the best action sci-fi films of all time, James Cameron’s Aliens. Do they think they can top those two films? Anything they come up with to remake this franchise will be a waste of time and as craptastic as Fox’s recent Alien vs Predator films. I really wish that Fox would stop wasting our time and stop pissing on beloved movies.

Dreamworks Animation have released an all new trailer for Monsters vs Aliens, an upcoming 3D animated flick from Rob Letterman (Shark Tale) and Conrad Vernon (Shrek 2).

After aliens invade America (“the only country that UFOs ever seem to land in”, heh), the President is forced to enlist monsters that the military has secretly been rounding up to save the planet. Included in the mix of monsters are a 49 foot 11 inch tall woman, “the brilliant but insect-headed Dr. Cockroach, Ph.D.; the macho half-ape, half-fish The Missing Link; the gelatinous and indestructible B.O.B.; and the 350-foot grub called Insectosaurus”.